The Invitation
by happyndhilarious
Summary: A two-shot about Severus finding out about James and Lily's wedding and him wondering if he needs to save her. Actually, it's more LE/JP. Whatever. Please read and review.
1. Part 1

_Hey guys and merry christmas!! Here's a twoshot for the Lily/Snape-shippers about Severus finding out about the approaching wedding of James and Lily. I hope you like it and review. (:_

_Disclaimer: I do not own 'Harry Potter'. You know that. =P

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_It was a cold afternoon in December when Severus Snape stepped out of his house. For a moment he couldn't make out anything but white. Then he realized it was snow. It was winter.

Great, he thought, when the first snowflakes landed in his hair. Just great.

He didn't really _hate _snow, not in general. But as he lived in Spinner's End the snow was grey and dirty and didn't resemble at all the white, clean, thick snow you saw in movies and children played with.

He slipped into another one of his thin old cloaks and closed the door behind him. After making sure no one was watching he drew his wand and Apparated.

Seconds later he stood in front of a small nice house somewhere near Manchester. The area seemed quite new; here the snow was as white and snow-ish as in the stories.

In the neighbor's house's garden even stood two snowmen. One wore an old ugly hat; the other one had lost its scarf that was lying next to him in the snow.

Severus walked over to the first house and murmured: "Homenum Revelio."

After making sure nobody was in the house he went to the front door. Over the bell hang a sign saying: "Steven, Mary & Lisa Ludvig say hello!"

Smiling grimly, Severus said: "Alohomora", and the door fell open.

Severus was glad the family wasn't at home. He remembered Mary Macdonald from Hogwarts. She was one of Lily's best friends and after marrying Steven Ludvig moved to Manchester. Since the Death Eater didn't know whether or not she was in the Order Severus had been sent to make it clear. Severus secretly had chosen this day to investigate after making sure the family wasn't there. They were visiting a relative in the city of Manchester.

He would just look around for a while, leave marks that would prove he actually had been at the house, leave and tell the others unfortunately he couldn't find out whether Mary Ludvig, neé Macdonald, was in the Order of the Phoenix because she hadn't been there to be questioned.

Of course she was in the Order. He was sure of that.

Severus knew that he didn't really act like his fellow Death Eater colleagues. But when he thought about what Lily would think if he hurt Mary or her family… He couldn't even picture her rage and hate and then he would lose her forever.

He stepped into the living room, a sudden hope burning inside of him. Maybe Mary still had pictures… maybe pictures not only of her but of her friends as well… pictures of a certain redheaded girl...

Severus didn't notice any other furniture while he walked over to the little table at the end of the room.

A lot of photos showed the little family and Severus only glanced at them. But behind all these there were some photos that definitely showed places in Hogwarts.

And then there was one that made Severus swallow hard. The picture showed four giggling girls. There were leaning against a familiar looking tree and behind them Severus could make out the lake. He recognized the girls one by one.

The name of the girl left was Alice. He didn't know very much about her, except that she was married to Frank Longbottom and that they were in the Order as well. The next girl's name was Abby Walters, another friend of Lily's. She wasn't in the Order and had moved to America the year they had graduated. Then came Mary. She was beaming and her arm lay on the shoulders of the last girl. She was smiling the brightest. Her red hair was shimmering and her eyes appeared even greener in the sun.

Severus wondered what Lily had been thinking of when the photo was taken. They all looked not older than fourteen and that meant at the time the photo was shot Lily and Severus still had been friends…

He would have been able to stare at the picture for much longer if there hadn't been another thing that attracted his attention.

A piece of paper that had fallen off the table when Severus had come in lay on the floor. He took it carefully and began to read.

_Dear Mary,_

_James and I would like you to attend our wedding on the 22__rd __December. Please be at Godric's Hollow at 11am. Don't hesitate to bring Steven and Lisa. We're always delighted to see them._

_Love,_

_James & Lily_

_P.S.: We decided to leave out the formal invitations, so this is all you will get._

_Godric's Hollow, 28__th__ November 1979_

Severus felt his knees buckle. He thought he was going to fall but when he landed he wasn't sitting on the floor but on one of the plushy chairs that he had seen everywhere in the house.

Something was wrong here. Never – _never_ – would Lily, sweet little Lily, marry a guy like Potter. Never.

This had to be wrong. There were probably a lot of couples with the names Lily and James. Of course. And there had to be another one of these couples living in Godric's Hollow.

But still – what if he was wrong? What if on the 22nd December he would lose Lily to James Potter forever?

He felt the sudden urge to rush over to her and ask her but knew at the same time that that was impossible. The Dark Lord would know, somehow he would know.

But they had only just graduated from Hogwarts. They were young. Surely the invitation was from an older couple, it had to be.

Confused and angry, Severus got up and left the house, leaving the invitation lying on the floor.

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_Part two following._


	2. Part 2

_So here it goes. (:

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_

It was the twenty-second of December. Severus Snape stood in his kitchen, looking out of the window, biting his lips.

What was he supposed to do?

He couldn't just turn up there and expect to be welcomed with hugs and kisses. She would ignore him. She had ignored him the last years in Hogwarts and she would ignore him now.

And Potter… Severus didn't think he would be that happy to see him there.

After all, today was his wedding day.

No, it would not be smart to show up there today. Everyone knew he was a Death Eater. He would probably end up getting arrested by the Ministry. And that was really not what he needed right now.

He sat down, sighing deeply.

Alright, he was not going there.

But what if she would listen?

What if she was waiting for him? Maybe she was unhappy and needed him to rescue her.

Severus stood up. Maybe it was true. Maybe she was about to make a terrible mistake if he wasn't going to save her.

He knew it was unlikely but it didn't matter. He slipped into his coat and went outside, groaning when he saw that it had snowed again. His neighbors, a small podgy woman and a skinny man, were snow shoveling. Severus waved half-heartily and they didn't wave back.

As soon as he was out of sight, he Apparated. He appeared on a small hill, looking down on a village.

The view was fascinating. The small houses were covered with snow, children were building snowmen and people were talking with their neighbors, laughing, wearing coats and hats and scarves, their faces red.

But Severus didn't look at them. He stared at only one house. It looked just like the others, white and beautiful, and finally he took a deep breath and walked over to it.

He didn't assume that he could just knock at the door so he stayed hidden behind a tree, thinking about what he was to do.

He could see if a window was open to get in there. But they probably had created a shield around their house. After all, they were members of the Order and had to expect an attack.

But maybe they would lower their protections to let in the guests. He could slip in with them.

He turned his head and saw a couple of fine dressed persons walk over to the house. But since Severus wasn't nearly as well dressed as they were his chances to get in there without attracting any attention were unsurprisingly low.

He assumed that he had around half an hour left. Deciding quickly, he turned around, walked back in the small forest and Apparated back.

He hurried over to his house in Spinner's End and slipped inside.

Standing in front of his closet, he considered. Most of his clothes were old; he had worn them when he was in his sixth and seventh year.

But there was one thing that he had only worn once. At the graduation day. His tux.

It was uncomfortable and made him look like some wanna-be, but it was formal and appropriate for a wedding.

Severus pulled it out of the closet. It was dusty from not-wearing and didn't look as new as it should be after the only one time that it was worn, but it would be alright.

Ten minutes later he stood in front of his mirror, deciding whether he should laugh or groan. He looked ridiculous.

He had to hurry, though. He didn't have time to laugh at himself.

A moment later he stood again on the hill looking at the village and the enormous task he was about to face.

Luckily enough, another group of people were walking over to the house and Severus quickly joined them.

An older lady saw him and began talking to him about strange stuff and Severus barely listened and only nodded now and then to stay inconspicuous.

They arrived at the house and Severus could actually see the shield being lowered so the guest could enter. But then he saw, horrified, that James Potter himself was standing in the doorway, welcoming every guest personally and even casting an exposing spell about everyone. Severus had to gasp as he saw that there were also two Ministry Aurors watching the door.

He saw his plan collapse when he noticed a man, walking next to him, who looked just as terrified as he was feeling. A moment later Severus recognized Pete Wellwhat, a Death Eater, who was about to be exposed. He was wearing a morning dress and hat and scarf so only his eyes were shown. But that was enough. The Aurors would recognize him at once.

And they would be distracted…

Severus slowed down a little so he walked at the end of the group. When Wellwhat reached the door the Aurors hurried over to them and disarmed the Death Eater who had drawn his wand.

The other guests shrieked and stepped back and when Potter and Sirius Black, who had appeared after seeing what was happening, tried to calm the people, Severus slipped past them into the house.

For a moment he thought that he would be called back and expected to feel a spell hit him but nothing happened. He walked into the living room that was crowded with people. Looking around, he couldn't make out the familiar red –haired girl that he was searching for.

He saw Mary MacDonald plus family, Frank Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Arthur and Molly Weasley plus their five sons, Minerva McGonagall and - Severus swallowed hard - Albus Dumbledore.

Quickly turning around, he left the room and hurried over to the stairwell. She would probably be up there, getting dressed or something.

He hurried up the stairs and looked around. There were five doors he could choose from but then he heard voices coming from the room at the end of the hallway.

He slipped over to the room and pressed his ear to the door.

"…like this?" "Of course. You look beautiful." "Thank you." "Listen, I've got to get down there, see if there's any trouble. But I will get you in twenty minutes. You'll be OK?" "Sure."

Severus heard steps and pressed himself against the right wall. The door opened and Alice Longbottom came out, wearing a nice light blue dress. She smiled to herself and disappeared as she walked down the stairs.

The door was open and Severus looked inside the room.

He could make out a great mirror that covered the wall to his right. A closet was in front of him and the floor was covered in confetti-like stuff.

And in front of the mirror, sitting on a stool, was Lily Evans.

Severus' eyes widened and he couldn't take his eyes off her.

Her dark red hair floated down her back, only two wisps of hair were pinned up, and she wore a slim-cut white strapless dress and a beautiful necklace.

She was looking at herself in the mirror and didn't notice Severus approaching her quietly. It was only when he put a hand on her shoulder that she gave a start and stood up.

"Severus?"

"Yes", he whispered back. "I'm here."

"I see that." Her voice was a little colder than he would have expected it.

He looked into her eyes and was surprised to see anger. "I came here to see if you…" _…needed to be rescued._ Suddenly this whole thing appeared ridiculous.

Lily's expression softened a little. "Severus, you shouldn't be here. If the Ministry sees you…"

"Lily", Severus interrupted. "Do you really want to do this?"

Lily looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Do you want to marry Potter? If he forces you… if he makes you do something you don't want to do… just say it."

Lily shook her head eagerly. "No. Severus, just… stop. Listen."

She took his hands into hers and looked into his eyes. "I know that you didn't, and probably still don't, like James. But he's not a bad person. He's a wonderful person. He would do anything for me and he would never make me do something I don't want. Never. OK?"

Severus stared at her desperately. "But what if he secretly is a Death Eater? What if he's on the Dark Lord's side?"

Lily raised her eyebrows and replied coolly: "Like you?"

It was as if she had hit him. Severus swallowed. "I'm not… I'm trying to protect you!"

"Well, you don't need to. I can take care of myself", she said calmly. "And why should I trust you? You're a Death Eater. You could be here to kill me."

When she saw Severus' expression she said hastily: "I know you're not here to kill me. I know you. And you know me and you know that I would never be with someone I don't really love. I love James."

Severus shook his head but didn't say anything. Lily put a hand to his cheek. "You should go, Severus. Alice will be back in a moment and I don't want her to see you."

She took a step towards him. "Take care of yourself, OK? Please. Do it for me."

Severus felt a tear rolling down his cheek. "I'm sorry, Lily. You know that, don't you?"

"Of course", she said and smiled. She bowed forwards and hugged him. Severus closed his eyes and tears of relief came streaming down his face.

Then they heard footsteps and Lily let go of him. "Hide. Quickly."

Severus hurried over to the closet and pressed himself against the wall next to it.

The door opened and Alice entered. "Are you ready?" she said, grinning.

Lily nodded. "I am."

They walked over to the door where Lily looked back once and her eyes met Severus' and she smiled one last time.

And then she turned around and left the room and Severus sank to the floor and touched his cheek where she had touched him and felt wetness and tears.

He waited another twenty minutes when he was sure that nobody was still inside and he left the house and the village and the person he loved, to get back to his own home where he could only sit down and wonder what he was supposed to do and cry until his tux was wet.

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_I hope you liked this. Thanks for reading (:_


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